Position related information presentation system, position related information presentation method and recording medium recording control program thereof

ABSTRACT

To provide a position related information presentation system that allows a user to experience as if the user had actually walked round and collected information about an area. A 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion reads 3D map data from a 3D map storing portion and displays area information such as town information related to the area displayed on the 3D map superimposed on the 3D map to the user. When the user changes a display of the 3D map by using a display change inputting portion, a position information searching portion searches for information related to a new display position from an area information storing portion. About the display of the area information superimposed on the 3D map, the field of view determining portion detects superimposing of one object on another such as buildings when viewed from the current position of the user using the map of the map database. A position information filtering portion searches for information related to objects visible to the user from the searched area information.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a position related informationpresentation system, a position related information presentation methodand a recording medium recording control program thereof, and moreparticularly, to an information supply system that displays areainformation which is information related to a of town information, etc.on a three-dimensional map using a computer system.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As a conventional information supply system of this type, a system thatpresents area information which is position related information such astown information using a computer system in a user-friendly fashion isproposed.

For example, a method of displaying information superimposed on atwo-dimensional map is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid-open No.9-34902 (reference 1). According to this technology, the user can usethis method to obtain map information and information related topositions on the map such as advertisement all together and make apreliminary inquiry about information on a place before the useractually visits the place.

Furthermore, a technology for preventing information presented on a mapfrom superimposing with each other is disclosed in the Japanese PatentLaid-open No. 11-174951 (reference 2). According to this technology, itis possible to display only information belonging to a specificcategory, hide other information and display information in aneasy-to-see way.

For example, suppose an application that searches for area informationon the current position while freely walking around on athree-dimensional map as shown in FIG. 2. The purpose of thisapplication is to allow the user to experience a place on a simulatedform by walking around in the three-dimensional map and collectinformation related to the place.

To realize such an application, the methods described in the abovereference 1 and reference 2 can be used as the methods of displayinginformation superimposed on a map. However, simply adopting thesemethods involves the following problems.

According to the techniques described in reference 1 and reference 2,the user is supposed to see a two-dimensional map from above, andtherefore when the user stands in that place in the real world, eveninformation that the user actually cannot see due to the shadows ofbuildings, etc. is searched. In this case, it is necessary to presentwith higher priority information on positions that the user can see fromthat place.

Furthermore, the method whereby the user walk around on thethree-dimensional map includes variations such as speed and height, andthe type of information required varies depending on the user. Forexample, when the user is moving fast, the user needs rough information.On the other hand, when the user is moving slowly, the user needs moredetailed information. The techniques described in reference 1 andreference 2 do not presuppose the method of use of the user walkingaround, and therefore cannot select information to be presentedaccording to the way the user walks on the map.

Moreover, in the case when information which the user wants to searchfor is clear, the user may use a method of searching using keywords,etc. and pasting the search results on the map instead of the method ofsearching for area information while walking around on thethree-dimensional map. However, since the techniques described inreference 1 and reference 2 are modes in which a two-dimensional map isseen from above, the problem is that it is difficult to grasp arelationship between a location on the map and the current location.Furthermore, there is commercially available map software capable ofsearching for a shortest path between two points, making it possible todisplay the shortest path from the current location to the locationsearched for. However, the shortest path is not always convenient to theuser and this software does not allow the user to freely move in acertain direction of interest and walk around to a place related to thesearch result, that is, walk around on the map with a high degree offreedom.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to solve the problems describedabove and provide a position related information presentation system, aposition related information presentation method and a recording mediumthat records a control program thereof allowing the user to experienceas if the user had walked around and collected information related tothe area.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a positionrelated information presentation system, a position related informationpresentation method and a recording medium that records a controlprogram thereof capable of providing information according to the waythe user walks around on the three-dimensional map and the divisionlevel on the map of the area covered by the information.

A first position related information presentation system according tothe present invention includes field of view determining means fordetecting, with respect to a display of area information related to aposition indicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed onthe data of the three-dimensional map, information on superimposing ofone object on another in a predetermined angle range centered on themoving direction from the current position and position informationfiltering means for searching for the related area information from thearea information related to a new display position searched in responseto a display change instruction using the information on superimposingof one object on another.

A second position related information presentation system according tothe present invention includes field of view determining means fordetecting, with respect to a display of area information related to aposition indicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed onthe data of the three-dimensional map, information on superimposing ofone object on another in a predetermined angle range centered on themoving direction from the current position, position granularitycalculating means for calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area informationand position information filtering means for searching for the relatedarea information from the area information using the level of details ofinformation indicating the level of granularity of the required areainformation, the granularity of said area and said information onsuperimposing of one object on another.

A third position related information presentation system according tothe present invention includes field of view determining means fordetecting, with respect to a display of area information related to aposition indicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed onthe data of the three-dimensional map, information on superimposing ofone object on another in a predetermined angle range centered on themoving direction from the current position, position granularitycalculating means for calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area information,operation intention determining means for estimating conditions of therequired area information based on a movement instruction and positioninformation filtering means for searching for the related areainformation from the area information using the condition estimated bythe operation intention determining means, the granularity of the areaand the information on superimposing of one object on another.

A fourth position related information presentation system according tothe present invention includes field of view determining means fordetecting, with respect to a display of area information related to aposition indicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed onthe data of the three-dimensional map, information on superimposing ofone object on another in a predetermined angle range centered on themoving direction from the current position, position informationfiltering means for searching for the related area information from thearea information using information on superimposing of one object onanother, keyword searching means for searching for the area informationbased on input/output keywords and path searching means for searchingfor a path up to the position specified by the area information searchedfrom the current position by the keyword searching means.

The portable terminal apparatus of the position related informationpresentation system according to the present invention includessuperimposed displaying means for displaying area information related toa position expressed with data of a three-dimensional map superimposedon the data of the three-dimensional map, field of view determiningmeans for detecting information on superimposing of one object onanother in a predetermined angle range centered on the moving directionfrom the current position with respect to the display of thesuperimposed displaying means and position information filtering meansfor searching for the related area information from the area informationrelated to a new display position searched in response to a displaychange instruction using the information on the superimposing of oneobject on another.

A first position related information presentation method according tothe present invention includes the steps of detecting, with respect to adisplay of area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of the three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object on another in apredetermined angle range centered on the moving direction from thecurrent position; and searching for the related area information fromthe area information related to a new display position searched inresponse to a display change instruction using the information onsuperimposing of one object on another.

A second position related information presentation method according tothe present invention includes the steps of detecting, with respect to adisplay of area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of the three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object on another in apredetermined angle range centered on the moving direction from thecurrent position; calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area information;and searching for the related area information from the area informationusing the level of details of information indicating the level ofgranularity of the required area information, the granularity of saidarea and said information on superimposing of one object on another.

A third position related information presentation method according tothe present invention includes the steps of detecting, with respect to adisplay of area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of the three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object on another in apredetermined angle range centered on the moving direction from thecurrent position; calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area information;estimating conditions of the required area information based on amovement instruction; and searching for the related area informationfrom the area information using the estimated condition, the granularityof the area and the information on superimposing of one object onanother.

A fourth position related information presentation method according tothe present invention includes the steps of detecting, with respect to adisplay of area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of the three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object on another in apredetermined angle range centered on the moving direction from thecurrent position; searching for the related area information from thearea information using information on superimposing of one object onanother; searching for the area information based on input/outputkeywords; and searching for a path from the current position to theposition specified by the searched area information, wherein a guide tothe position specified by the area information is displayed based onthis search result.

A fifth position related information presentation method according tothe present invention includes the steps of displaying area informationrelated to a position expressed with data of a three-dimensional mapsuperimposed on the data of the three-dimensional map; detectinginformation on the superimposing of one object on another in apredetermined angle range centered on the moving direction from thecurrent position with respect to the display; and searching for therelated area information from the area information related to a newdisplay position searched in response to a display change instructionusing the information on the superimposing of one object on another.

A sixth position related information presentation method according tothe present invention is a position related information presentationmethod for displaying area information related to a position specifiedwith position information on three-dimensional map using a computersystem, including the steps of detecting a change of the condition ofthe three-dimensional map; searching for area information at the currentposition from the current map condition using a database; extractinginformation of buildings in the field of view of the operator from thesearch results; and displaying this extraction result.

A first recording medium that records a position related informationpresentation control program according to the present invention forpresenting position related information renders a computer to detect,with respect to a display of area information related to a positionindicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data ofthe three-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object onanother in a predetermined angle range centered on the moving directionfrom the current position and search for the related area informationfrom the area information related to a new display position searched inresponse to a display change instruction using the information onsuperimposing of one object on another.

A second recording medium that records a position related informationpresentation control program according to the present invention forpresenting position related information renders a computer to detect,with respect to a display of area information related to a positionindicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data ofthe three-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object onanother in a predetermined angle range centered on the moving directionfrom the current position, calculate granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area informationand search for the related area information from the area informationusing the level of details of information indicating the level ofgranularity of the required area information, the granularity of thearea and the information on the superimposing of one object on another.

A third recording medium that records a position related informationpresentation control program according to the present invention forpresenting position related information renders a computer to detect,with respect to a display of area information related to a positionindicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data ofthe three-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object onanother in a predetermined angle range centered on the moving directionfrom the current position, calculate granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by the area information,estimate conditions of the required area information based on a movementinstruction and search for the related area information from the areainformation using the estimated condition, the granularity of the areaand the information on superimposing of one object on another.

A fourth recording medium that records a position related informationpresentation control program according to the present invention forpresenting position related information renders a computer to detect,with respect to a display of area information related to a positionindicated by data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data ofthe three-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object onanother in a predetermined angle range centered on the moving directionfrom the current position, search for the related area information fromthe area information using the information on superimposing of oneobject on another, search for the area information based on input/outputkeywords and search for a path up to the position specified by the areainformation searched from the current position, wherein a guide to theposition specified by the area information is displayed based on thissearch result.

A fifth recording medium that records a position related informationpresentation control program according to the present invention forpresenting position related information renders a portable terminalapparatus to display area information related to a position expressedwith data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data of thethree-dimensional map, detect information on superimposing of one objecton another in a predetermined angle range centered on the movingdirection from the current position with respect to the display andsearch for the related area information from the area informationrelated to a new display position searched in response to a displaychange instruction using the information on the superimposing of oneobject on another.

That is, the first position related information presentation methodaccording to the present invention is a position related informationpresentation method that presents position related area information on athree-dimensional map using a computer system in a mannereasy-to-understand to the user, including the steps of detecting achange of state on the three-dimensional map; searching for related areainformation from the current state of the map from a database;extracting area information visible to the user from the search result;and displaying this extraction result to the user.

The second position related information presentation method according tothe present invention is a position related information presentationmethod that presents position related area information such as towninformation on a three-dimensional map using a computer system in amanner easy-to-understand to the user, including the steps of detectinga change of state on the three-dimensional map; searching for relatedarea information from the current state of the map from a database;calculating granularity of the area covered by area information withrespect to each search result; extracting area information that matchesthe condition of the area information requested by the user and isvisible to the user; and displaying this extraction result to the user.

The third position related information presentation method according tothe present invention is a position related information presentationmethod that presents position related area information such as towninformation on a three-dimensional map using a computer system in amanner easy-to-understand to the user, including the steps of detectinga change of state on the three-dimensional map; searching for relatedarea information from the current state of the map from a database;calculating granularity of the area covered by area information withrespect to each search result; estimating the condition of areainformation requested by the user judging from the user operations onthe three-dimensional map; extracting area information that matches thecondition of the area information the user wants and is visible to theuser; and displaying this extraction result to the user.

The fourth position related information presentation method according tothe present invention is a position related information presentationmethod that presents position related area information such as towninformation on a three-dimensional map using a computer system in amanner easy-to-understand to the user, including the steps of searchingfor area information using keywords from a database; calculating theshortest path from the user location on the map to a place related tothe search result; and guiding the user based on the calculation resultof this step of calculating the shortest path.

The fifth position related information presentation method according tothe present invention adds to the configuration of the fourth positionrelated information presentation method according to the presentinvention a step of controlling the step of calculating the shortestpath so as to recalculate the shortest path every time the user locationchanges so that the user need not always move according to the guide andthe user can thereby receive a guide with a high degree of freedom.

More specifically, the first position related information presentationsystem according to the present invention is a position relatedinformation presentation system that presents position related areainformation such as town information on a three-dimensional map using acomputer system in a manner easy-to-understand to the user, comprising3D (3 Dimensions) map storing means for storing 3D display data of amap, 3D map/information superimposed displaying means for reading 3D mapdata from the 3D map storing means and displaying area information whichis position related information such as town information related to thearea displayed on the 3D map superimposed on the 3D map to the user,display change inputting means for allowing the user to perform displaychange operations such as moving forward, backward or turning directionswith respect to the display by the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying means, position information storing means which is a databasestoring area information which is position related information such astown information, position information searching means for searching forinformation related to a new display position from the area informationstoring means when the user changes the display of the 3D map using thedisplay changing means, field of view determining means for detectingobjects the user can currently view by detecting information on thesuperimposing of one object on another such as buildings using the mapof the map database with respect to the map database which is a 2D (2Dimensions) map database and the display of the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying means viewed from the user's current position,and position information filtering means for searching object-relatedarea information calculated by the field of view determining means andvisible to the user from the area information searched by the positioninformation searching means and requesting the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying means to display the searched area informationsuperimposed on the 3D map to the user.

The second position related information presentation system according tothe present invention adds position granularity calculating means forcalculating granularity of an area indicating a division level on themap of the area covered by area information to the configuration of theabove-described first position related information presentation systemof the present invention, thereby allowing the user to specify thegranularity of preferred area information as a search condition of areainformation.

The third position related information presentation system according tothe present invention adds user operation intention determining meansfor estimating the condition of area information requested by the userjudging from the user operation carried out using the display changeinputting means to the configuration of the above-described secondposition related information presentation system of the presentinvention, thereby making it possible to select and display appropriatearea information based on the way the 3D map moves even if the user doesnot particularly specify search conditions of area information.

The fourth position related information presentation system according tothe present invention adds keyword searching means for searching areainformation by inputting keywords and path searching means for searchingthe path from the current location to a place related to the searchresult to the configuration of the above-described position relatedinformation presentation system, thereby making it possible, when thereis definitely area information for which the user wants to search, tosearch for the area information using the keyword searching means firstand navigate to a place related to the search result on the map.

The fifth position related information presentation system according tothe present invention allows the path searching means of the fourthposition related information presentation system to recalculate theshortest path every time the user location changes so that the user neednot always move according to the guide and thereby allows the user toreceive a guide with a high degree of freedom.

The conventional system has a problem that since the user is supposed tosee a two-dimensional map from above, when the user stands in that placein the real world, even information that the user actually cannot seedue to the shadows of buildings, etc. is searched. In contrast to this,the position related information presentation system according to thepresent invention solves this problem by comprising field of viewdetermining means for determining the user field of view on a 3D map andposition information filtering means for extracting area informationactually visible to the user from the area information search resultbased on this determination result.

Furthermore, the method of walking around on a 3D map is subject tovariations in the speed and height, etc. and information requested bythe user varies from one user to another. For example, when the user ismoving fast, rough information is required and when the user is movingslowly, detailed information is required. The conventional system is notintended for a use by a user who is walking around, and therefore it isnot possible to select information to be presented according to the waythe user walks around on the map. In contrast, the position relatedinformation presentation system according to the present inventionsolves the conventional problem by comprising position granularitycalculating means for calculating granularity of an area covered by thesearched area information and user operation intention determining meansfor determining from the user operations on the 3D map whether the userwants rough information or detailed information.

Furthermore, the position related information presentation systemaccording to the present invention not only can search peripheralinformation while walking around on a 3D map, but also includes in theconfiguration the keyword searching means and path searching meansallowing the user to search information using keywords first andnavigate on the 3D map to reach a place related to the information,recalculates the path every time the user location changes, thuseliminating the need for the user to always move according to the guide,thereby providing the user with a guide with a high degree of freedom.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a display screen according to the firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a display change processing according tothe first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a configuration example of 3D map storing portion inFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing an area information change processingaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a configuration example of position informationstoring portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of search result of the positioninformation searching portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of a field of viewdetermining portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing a map data;

FIG. 10 is a schematic view showing a processing operation of the fieldof the view determining portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing a processing operation of the fieldof the view determining portion in FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 illustrates a filtering result of the first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates the filtering result of the first embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a processing operation of the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing a granularity calculation processing ofthe position granularity calculating portion in FIG. 14;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing a method of calculating granularity ofarea information using position granularity calculating portion in FIG.14;

FIG. 19 is a schematic view showing the method of calculatinggranularity of area information using the position granularitycalculating portion in FIG. 14;

FIG. 20 shows the schematic view shown in FIG. 19 superimposed on themap data shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 21 illustrates a filtering result according to the secondembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of the field ofview determining portion in FIG. 14;

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a third embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thethird embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 25 illustrates a table in the user operation intention determiningportion in FIG. 23;

FIG. 26 is block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing a processing operation according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 shows an example of an input screen of keyword searching portionin FIG. 26;

FIG. 29 shows an example of a search result of the keyword searchingportion in FIG. 26;

FIG. 30 illustrates a display example of a search result of the keywordsearching portion in FIG. 26;

FIG. 31 illustrates a search result of the keyword searching portion inFIG. 26;

FIG. 32 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 33 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 34 illustrates processing of calculating a shortest path accordingto the fourth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 35 illustrates a configuration example of a table that storesstarting nodes, arriving nodes and the distances between them shown inFIG. 34;

FIG. 36 illustrates a specific example of processing of calculating theshortest path according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 37 illustrates a specific example of processing of calculating theshortest path according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 38 illustrates a display screen of the processing result in FIG.37;

FIG. 39 illustrates a specific example of processing of calculating theshortest path according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 40 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a fifth embodiment of thepresent invention; and

FIG. 41 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a sixth embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Next, with reference now to the attached drawings, embodiments of thepresent invention will be explained in detail below. FIG. 1 is a blockdiagram showing a configuration of a position related informationpresentation system according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention. In FIG. 1, the position related information presentationsystem according to the first embodiment of the present invention isconstructed of display change inputting portion 1, 3D (3 Dimensions)map/information superimposed displaying portion 2, 3D map storingportion 3, position information filtering portion 4, field of viewdetermining portion 5, a map database (DB) 6, position informationsearching portion 7 and position information storing portion 8.

The 3D map storing portion 3 stores 3D display data of a map, the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 reads 3D map data fromthe 3D map storing portion 3 and displays area information related tothe area displayed in the 3D map superimposed on the 3D map to the user.The display change inputting portion 1 gives the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying portion 2 instructions on the user's displaychange operations such as moving forward, moving backward or changingthe direction of the display of the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2.

The position information storing portion 8 is a database that storesposition information and area information related to a positionspecified by the position information. The position informationsearching portion 7 searches for area information related to a newdisplay position from the position information storing portion 8triggered off by the user changing the display of the 3D map using thedisplay change inputting portion 1.

Here, the position information indicates a certain area or point on amap and is described with, for example, “address”, “postal code” and“latitude, longitude”. Hereafter, in this embodiment, positioninformation is expressed in a form of “(latitude, longitude)-(latitude,longitude)” which indicate two diagonal points of a rectangle whichapproximates an area on the map.

Furthermore, the area information refers to data related to a place(position) specified by the above-described position information, forexample, name of a building located in the place specified by theposition information, advertisement of a shop in the building, homepageaddress [URL (Uniform Resource Locator)] of a company or organization,etc. in the building.

Hereafter, in this embodiment, suppose area information will beexpressed by a homepage URL or title of a company or organizationexisting in a place specified by the position information. However, inaddition to the above-described information, it is also possible to usea telephone directory including types of business, registered names,telephone numbers, etc. which is a commercially available database,entertainment magazine databases of movie information including titlesand schedules or event information or map database including locationnames, time from the nearest station, etc. in association with variouskinds of information, and in that case such various kinds of informationcan also be used as area information.

The map database 6 is a 2D (2 Dimensions) map. The field of viewdetermining portion 5 detects objects currently visible to the user bydetecting information on superimposing of one object on another such asbuildings using the map of the map database 6 when viewed from thecurrent position of the user with respect to the display by the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2.

The position information filtering portion 4 searches area informationrelated to the objects visible to the user calculated by the field ofview determining portion 5 from the area information searched by theposition information searching portion 7 and requests the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 to display the areainformation superimposed on the 3D map to the user.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a display screen according to the firstembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows an example of adisplay screen displayed by the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2. With reference to this FIG. 2, an application thatallows the user to search area information on the current position(position currently displayed) on the 3D map while walking around on the3D map will be explained below. As a graphical user interface, thepresent invention assumes a personal computer, etc. which is operatedusing input devices such as a mouse and keyboard.

In FIG. 2, the screen displayed by the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2 is constructed of three areas of a 3D map displayarea 201, a user operation input area 202, and an area information linkdisplay area 203.

The 3D map display area 201 is an area to display a map stored in the 3Dmap storing portion 3 and is constructed of an object 20101 such as abuilding and a link 20102 to the area information related to thebuilding. The link 20102 to the area information is assigned symbols(“A”, “B”, etc.) which correspond to the symbols assigned to the areainformation displayed in the area information link display area 203.

In the case of the screen example shown in FIG. 2, the area informationon the object 20101 is the URL and title of a company in the “BuildingA” expressed with the link 20102 and the detail of this is “(Corp.) xxxhomepage http:/www.xxx.com/” described in the area information 20301.

The user operation input area 202 is an area where the user makesentries to change the display of the 3D map display area 201 and in thecase of the screen example shown in FIG. 2, the user can enter“Forward”, “Back”, “Left” and “Right” in the area 20201, and the contentof the 3D map displayed in the 3D map display area 201 and the contentof the area information related to the 3D map displayed in the areainformation link display area 203 are changed according to therespective entries. However, some operations may be invalid depending onthe display contents (dead end, etc.) of the 3D map display area 201. Aflow of this display change processing will be explained later.

The area information link display area 203 shows a list of areainformation related to the 3D map. In the case of the screen exampleshown in FIG. 2, there are two pieces of area information. The firstarea information 20301 is “(Corp.) xxx homepage http:/www.xxx.com/” andthe second area information 20302 is “aaa Corporationhttp://www.aaa.com/”. Here, the line starting with “http://” means alink to information on the Internet and when the user clicks on thisline with a mouse, a browser starts and a page of the link destinationis displayed on the browser.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing display change processing according tothe first embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 4 illustrates aconfiguration example of the 3D map storing portion 3 in FIG. 1. Withreference to these FIG. 1 to FIG. 4, the display change processingaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention will beexplained.

The user enters display changes to the screen displayed by the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 using the useroperation input area 202 (step S1 in FIG. 3). The display change inputportion 1 requests the 3D map/information superimposed displayingportion 2 to execute the content of the user operation (one of“Forward”, “Back”, “Left” and “Right”) by using a request signal 101.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 stores the filename (hereinafter referred to as “current file name”) of the currentlydisplayed 3D map, the location (hereinafter referred to as “currentlocation”) of the currently displayed 3D map and the orientation(hereinafter referred to as current direction”) of the currentlydisplayed 3D map.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 inquires the 3Dmap storing portion 3 about the next 3D map data to be displayedaccording to the notification content using an inquiry signal 102. Inthat case, the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2sends the current file name of the 3D map, the contents of the useroperation (one of “Forward”, “Back”, “Left” and “Right”) to the 3D mapstoring portion 3 as parameters. FIG. 4 shows an example of the 3D mapdatabase stored in the 3D map storing portion 3.

In FIG. 4, field T101 denotes the file name of the 3D map; field T102,the location of the 3D map [expressed as (north latitude, eastlongitude)]; field T103, the orientation of the 3D map (expressed as“East”, “West”, “South”, “North”); field T104, the file name of the 3Dmap in the case of “Forward” (if this operation is not available, thevalue is a blank); field T105, the file name of the 3D map in the caseof “Back” (if this operation is not available, the value is a blank);field T106, the file name of the 3D map in the case of “Left” (if thisoperation is not available, the value is a blank); field T107, the filename of the 3D map in the case of “Right” (if this operation is notavailable, the value is a blank).

The 3D map storing portion 3 searches for a record where the file nameof the current map matches the value of field T101. The value of fieldT101 is designed to be a main key and it is designed that one recordnecessarily matches this value.

The file name of the next 3D map (hereinafter referred to as “next filename” ) is obtained from the values of fields T104 to T107 of the recordthat matches according to the contents of the user operations (one of“Forward”, “Back”, “Left” and “Right”).

When the next file name is not “blank”, a record where the next filename matches the value of field T101 is searched. The value of fieldT102 of the record that matches this search is the location of the next3D map (hereinafter referred to as “next location”) and the value offield T103 is the orientation of the next 3D map (hereinafter referredto as “next orientation”) The 3D map storing portion 3 sends theabove-described “next file name”, “next location” and “next orientation”to the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 using aresponse signal 104.

In the example shown in FIG. 4, the current file name is “3D000100” andin the case where the user operation is “Forward”, “3D000101” is thenext file. The 3D map storing portion 3 searches for field T101 thatmatches the next file name “3D000101” and if the value “(35.5061,135.7050)” is obtained as the “next location” and the value “North” isobtained as the “next orientation”, these values are sent to the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2. This causes the next3D data to be loaded to the 3D map/information superimposed displayingportion 2 (step S2 in FIG. 3).

However, in the case where the “next file name” is “blank”, the useroperation content is regarded as a “failure” and the 3D map storingportion 3 sends “failure” to the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2 using the response signal 104.

If the reply from the 3D map storing portion 3 is a file name (step S3in FIG. 3), the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2moves on to step S4 and if the reply is “failure” (step S3 in FIG. 3),the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 finishes thedisplay change processing.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 loads the nextfile name that has received the reply from the 3D map storing portion 3and changes the display of the 3D map display area 201 (step S4 in FIG.3). The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 changes thevalues of the “current file name”, “current location” and “currentorientation” to “next file name”, “next location” and “nextorientation”, respectively. In response to the change of the display ofthe 3D map, the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2carries out area information change processing (step S5 in FIG. 3) andfinishes the display change processing.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the area information change processingaccording to the first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 6illustrates a configuration example of the position information storingportion 8 in FIG. 1 and FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a search resultof the position information searching portion 7 in FIG. 1. Withreference to these FIG. 1, FIG. 2 and FIG. 5 to FIG. 7, the areainformation change processing according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention will be explained.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 requests theposition information searching portion 7 to change the area informationusing a request signal 103 (step S11 in FIG. 5). In this case, the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 sends the updated“current location” and “current orientation” to the position informationsearching portion 7 as parameters. In this case, the “current location”is “(35.5061,135.7050)” and the current orientation is “North”.

The position information searching portion 7 searches for areainformation in the position information storing portion 8 using a searchsignal 110 (step S12 in FIG. 5). The system predetermines a range to besearched as the area information based on the current position. Forsimplification of explanations, now suppose the search range is “northlatitude ±0.006” and “east longitude ±0.005” from the current position.

The position information storing portion 8 stores the information ofpage groups on the Internet classified by position as area information.In FIG. 6, field T201 denotes “area information ID (identificationinformation) (PID)”; field T202, “Internet URL of page”; field T203,“page title”; field T204, “page-related location [for convenience, theplace is approximated with a rectangle and its two diagonal points areexpressed with (north latitude, east longitude)-(north latitude, eastlongitude)]”.

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 6, when the “area informationID” is “1”, “http:/www.xxx.com/” is stored as “URL”, “(Corp.)xxxhomepage” is stored as “title”, “(35.5020, 135.7020)-(35.5030,135.7040)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “2”, “http://www.yyy.com/” is storedas “URL”, “(Corp.) yyy top page” is stored as “title”, “(35.4000,135.7500)-(35.4010, 135.7510)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “3”, “http://www.zzz.com/” is storedas “URL”, “Welcome To ZZZ” is stored as “title”, “(35.5010,135.7070)-(35.5030, 135.7090)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “4”, “http://www.aaa.com/” is storedas “URL”, “aaa Corporation” is stored as “title”, “(35.5050,135.7070)-(35.5070, 135.7090)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “5”, “http://www.bbb.com/” is storedas “URL”, “bbb Portal” is stored as “title”, “(35.6000,135.7500)-(35.6010, 135.7510)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “6”, “http://www.ccc.com/” is storedas “URL”, “ccc site” is stored as “title”, “(35.5050,135.7090)-(35.5070, 135.7110)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “7”, “http://www.ddd.com/” is storedas “URL”, “Welcome to ddd page” is stored as “title”, “(35.5000,135.6000)-(35.5010, 135.6010)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “8”, “http://www.nnn.com/” is storedas “URL”, “NNN Bank homepage” is stored as “title”, “(35.1050,135.7090)-(35.1070, 135.7110)” is stored as “location”.

When the “area information ID” is “9”, “http://www.mmm.com/” is storedas “URL”, “MMM Bank” is stored as “title”, “(35.9000, 35.6000)-(35.9010,135.6010)” is stored as “location”.

The position information storing portion 8 calculates the search rangefrom the current location, searches for a record whose value of fieldT204 is included within this search range and sends the record with thesearch result to the position information searching portion 7 using aresponse signal 111.

In the case of the example above, since the current location is“(35.5061, 135.7050)” and the search range is “north latitude ±0.006”and “east longitude ±0.005”, the search result is as shown in FIG. 7 andthe position information storing portion 8 sends the record set to theposition information searching portion 7. That is, the positioninformation storing portion 8 sends the record sets with “areainformation ID” of “1”, “3”, “4” and “6” to the position informationsearching portion 7.

The position information searching portion 7 sends the area informationsearch result, “current location” and “current orientation” from theposition information storing portion 8 to the position informationfiltering portion 4 using a search result signal 109.

The position information filtering portion 4 carries out filteringprocessing that deletes area information on a location which is notactually visible to the user due to the shadows of buildings, etc. whenviewed from the user from the “current location” in the “currentorientation” from the search result of the area information (step S13 inFIG. 5). The position information filtering portion 4 sends the searchresult of the area information subjected to filtering to the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 using a notificationsignal 105. The above-described filtering processing will be describedlater.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 updates thecontent of the area information link display area 203 (step S14 in FIG.5) based on the search result of the area information sent from theposition information filtering portion 4 and finishes this processing.

The position information filtering portion 4 requests the field of viewdetermining portion 5 for filtering processing on the area informationin step S13 above using a request signal 106. In that case, the positioninformation filtering portion 4 sends the search result of the areainformation, “current location” and “current orientation” as parametersto the field of view determining portion 5.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of the field ofview determining portion 5. With reference to this FIG. 8, theprocessing procedure of the field of view determining portion 5 inresponse to a request from the position information filtering portion 4will be explained.

As in the case of the processing carried out in step S12 of FIG. 5above, the field of view determining portion 5 obtains map data of theperiphery of the “current location”, that is, map data 108 in apredetermined range from the “current location” from the map database 6(step S21 in FIG. 8).

To carry out the following step on all records of the area informationsearch result, the field of view determining portion 5 initializes avariable C which means the record currently being processed with “1”(C←1) (step S22 in FIG. 8).

The field of view determining portion 5 calculates the range(hereinafter referred to as “field of view”) displayed to the 3D mapdisplay area 201 (step S23 in FIG. 8). In this calculation method, acertain angle range from the “current location” in the “currentorientation” can be regarded as the field of view.

After this, if the Cth area information exists (step S24 in FIG. 8), thefield of view determining portion 5 checks whether the Cth areainformation falls within the field of view or not (step S25 in FIG. 8).On the contrary, if the Cth area information does not exist (step S24 inFIG. 8), this means that records of all area information search resulthave been processed, the field of view determining portion 5 sends thefiltering result stored in step S27 as the new area information searchresult to the position information filtering portion 4 using a responsesignal 107 (step S29 in FIG. 8) and finishes the processing.

If the Cth area information falls within the field of view, the field ofview determining portion 5 checks whether Cth area information isactually visible from the “current location” or not(step S26 in FIG.8).Furthermore, if the Cth area information does not fall within the fieldof view, the field of view determining portion 5 increments the value ofthe variable C by “1” (C←C+1) (step S28 in FIG. 8) and returns to stepS24 above.

As a result of the check, if no object is found between the Cth areainformation and the “current location”, the field of view determiningportion 5 stores the Cth area information as the filtering result (stepS27 in FIG. 8). If some object is found between the Cth area informationand the “current location”, the field of view determining portion 5increments the value of the variable C by “1” (C←C+1) (step S28 in FIG.8) and returns to step S24 above.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view showing map data, FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 areschematic views showing a processing operation of the field of viewdetermining portion 5 in FIG. 1, and FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 illustrate afiltering result of the first embodiment of the present invention. Withreference to these FIG. 9 to FIG. 13, the processing procedure of thefield of view determining portion 5 in response to the request from theposition information filtering portion 4 will be explained morespecifically.

The field of view determining portion 5 obtains the map data of theperiphery of the “current location”, that is, the map data 108 within apredetermined range from the “current location” from the map database 6.In this case, a commercially available map data can be used as the mapdata.

Now, to simplify explanations, simplified map data is shown in FIG. 9.The entire rectangle represents a map and rectangles inside representbuildings. Suppose the upward direction in the figure is north. In FIG.9, “F101” denotes the “current location”; “F102”, the “building at thelocation of the first record shown in FIG. 7 (record set for the “areainformation ID” of “1”); “F103”, the “building at the location of thesecond record shown in FIG. 7 (record set for the “area information ID”of “3”); “F104”, the “building at the location of the third record shownin FIG. 7 (record set for the “area information ID” of “4”); “F105”, the“building at the location of the fourth record shown in FIG. 7 (recordset for the “area information ID” of “6”).

The field of view determining portion 5 calculates the field of viewdisplayed to the 3D map display area 201. It is possible to calculatethis field of view by regarding a certain angle range from the “currentposition” in the “current orientation” as the field of view. Forexample, if for the map data shown in FIG. 9, the “current orientation”is “north” and the angle of the field of view is “120 degrees”, thesection enclosed by the heavy line frame in FIG. 10 is the field ofview.

When the Cth area information exists, the field of view determiningportion 5 checks whether the Cth area information falls within the fieldof view or not and if Cth area information falls within the field ofview, the field of view determining portion 5 checks whether the Ctharea information is actually visible from the “current location” or not.In this case, the field of view determining portion 5 can check whetherthere are any objects such as buildings completely blocking between theCth area information and the “current location”.

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, auxiliary lines are drawn from the“current location” to the area contours on the map of the Cth areainformation at certain intervals and if at least one auxiliary line doesnot superimpose on the object, it is possible to determine that theobject is actually visible from the “current location”. However, thismethod is only an example and it is possible to process this with a morestrict method.

As a result of the check, if there is no object between the Cth areainformation and the “current location”, the field of view determiningportion 5 stores the Cth area information as the filtering result. Forexample, when C=1, the 1st record shown in FIG. 7 is within the field ofview as shown in FIG. 11 and there is no object between that areainformation and the “current location”, and therefore the record withthe “area information ID” of “1” is stored as the filtering result.

Furthermore, when filtering is performed one by one until C=4, as asearch result of area information shown in FIG. 7, “F105” is deletedbecause there is an object between area information and the “currentlocation” and finally the records whose “area information ID” is “1”,“3” and “4” are stored as the filtering results (see FIG. 13).

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 14, the position related informationpresentation system according to the second embodiment of the presentinvention has the same configuration as that of the position relatedinformation presentation system according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention shown in FIG. 1 except in that it further includesposition granularity calculating portion 9 for calculating granularityof an area indicating a division level of an area on the map covered byarea information and the same components are assigned the same referencenumerals. Operations of the same components are the same as those of thefirst embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing a processing operation of the secondembodiment of the present invention. With reference to this FIG. 15, thegranularity of an area will be explained. Normally, when addressinformation is expressed, address information is describedhierarchically in descending order of the size of division, for example,prefecture level→ward, city, village level→town level→building level.FIG. 15 shows this schematically.

In FIG. 15, division levels are expressed with layers “0” to “3”. Forsimplicity of explanations, in this embodiment, the ward, city, villagelevel is classified as the roughest division, that is, division level 0(hereinafter expressed as “L=0”) and level 3 (hereinafter expressed as“L=3”) which is a subdivision of the interior of a building as the mostdetailed division. The position granularity calculating portion 9 ismeans for determining the granularity of an area indicating the layer ofa division level of an area on the map covered by the area information.

FIG. 16 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thesecond embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 shows an example ofa display screen shown by the 3d map/information superimposed displayingportion 2 and is the screen example shown in FIG. 2 plus an area 20202that allows the user to input settings of a search target.

Suppose the user is allowed to enter four levels of information (0 to 3)from the roughest information such as information of an entire city downto the most detailed information such as information of a certain shop.Hereafter, this value will be referred to as a “level of details ofcurrent information”.

With the addition of this area, the display change inputting portion 1stores the level of details of current information selected by the user,and in step S1 in FIG. 3 above, also requests the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying portion 2 for the level of details of currentinformation as a parameter using a request signal 101. Furthermore, instep S11 in FIG. 5 above, upon requesting the position informationsearching portion 7 for a change of area information, the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 also sends the levelof details of current information as a parameter using a request signal103.

In step S12 in FIG. 5 above, the position information searching portion7 is sending the area information search result, “current location” and“current orientation” to the position information filtering portion 4using a response signal 109. This destination is changed to the positiongranularity calculating portion 9 and the level of details of currentinformation is also sent as a parameter using a response signal 113. Inresponse to this, the position granularity calculating portion 9calculates the granularity of information of the area information searchresult as will be described later.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing the granularity calculation processingof the position granularity calculating portion 9 in FIG. 14. Withreference to these FIG. 14 to FIG. 17, the granularity calculationprocessing of the position granularity calculating portion 9 will beexplained.

The position granularity calculating portion 9 obtains map data 112 ofthe periphery of the “current location”, that is, map data 112 within apredetermined range from the “current location” from the map database 6in the same way as for the processing carried out in step S12 above(step S31 in FIG. 17).

The position granularity calculating portion 9 initializes variable Cwhich means the record currently being processed with “1” (C←1) toprocess the following step on all records of the area information searchresult (step S32 in FIG. 17).

If the Cth area information exists (step S33 in FIG. 17), the positiongranularity calculating portion 9 calculates the granularity of the Ctharea information (step S34 in FIG. 17), increments the value of thevariable C by 1 (C←C+1) (step S35 in FIG. 17) and goes back to step S33.

If the Cth area information does not exist (step S33 in FIG. 17), thismeans that the records of the all area information search result hasbeen processed, and the position granularity calculating portion 9finishes this processing. The method of calculating the granularity ofthe above-described area information will be explained later.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing a method of calculating granularity ofarea information using the position granularity calculating portion 9 inFIG. 14. With reference to these FIG. 14 and FIG. 18, the operation ofthe second embodiment of the present invention will be explained. First,the method of calculating granularity of the above-described areainformation will be explained. Hereafter, the Cth area information willbe referred to as “focused area information”.

To determine the granularity of area information starting from theroughest division level, the position granularity calculating portion 9initializes the variable L to store the division level currently beingfocused with “0” (L←0) (step S41 in FIG. 18).

When the value of variable L is equal to or smaller than a maximum value(L_MAX) of the division level (step S42 in FIG. 18), the positiongranularity calculating portion 9 checks whether the area informationmatches a certain object or not and searches for an area on the map thatthe focused area information matches (step S43 in FIG. 18). If the areainformation matches no object, the position granularity calculatingportion 9 searches for an area of the division level L on the map thatincludes the focused area information (step S44 in FIG. 18).

If the area of the division level L on the map that includes the focusedarea information is found, the position granularity calculating portion9 stores a set of areas including the area of the focused areainformation (step S45 in FIG.18). Hereafter, this will be referred to asan “object path” and the ID of the area will described delimited bycommas.

If the value of variable L is not smaller than the maximum value (L_MAX)of the division level (step S42 in FIG. 18), the position granularitycalculating portion 9 regards the value of variable L as L_MAX (step S47in FIG. 18), adds a field for storing an object path and a field of thedivision level to which the area of the focused area information belongsto the area information search result (step S49 in FIG. 18) and finishesthe processing. An intuitive meaning of this processing flow is that anobject finer than the maximum division level (finest granularity) ishandled as the maximum division level. Hereafter, the area informationsearch result with these two fields added will be referred to as“expanded area information search result”.

If the focused area information matches a certain object (step S43 inFIG. 18), the position granularity calculating portion 9 adds the areathat matches the area of the focused area information to the object path(step S48 in FIG. 18), adds two fields, that is, a field to store theobject path and a field at a lower division level to which the area ofthe focused area information belongs to the area information searchresult (step S49 in FIG. 18) and finishes the processing.

If the area of division level L on the map including the focused areainformation is not found (step S44 in FIG. 18), the position granularitycalculating portion 9 adds the field to store the object path and thefield of the division level to which the area of the focused areainformation belongs to the area information search result (step S49 inFIG. 18). An intuitive meaning of this processing flow is that becausethe area information not always completely matches an object on the map,processing of searching objects on the map with minimum granularityincluding the area information is carried out.

FIG. 19 is a schematic view showing the method of calculatinggranularity of area information using the position granularitycalculating portion 9 in FIG. 14, FIG. 20 shows the schematic view shownin FIG. 19 superimposed on the map data shown in FIG. 9 and FIG. 21illustrates a filtering result according to the second embodiment of thepresent invention. With reference to these FIG. 14 and FIG. 19 to FIG.21, an operation of the second embodiment of the present invention willbe explained.

Normally, commercially available map software is also classified intodivision levels according to granularity and objects such as buildingsexist at respective division levels. In the following explanations, themap divided into the division levels shown in FIG. 19 will be used.

“L=0” shows a city-level object. In the example shown in FIG. 19, thecity-level object consists of a rectangle area F201 and suppose thisarea expresses a city. Each area is given an ID and area F201 is givenan ID “0-001”.

“L=2” shows building-level objects. In the example shown in FIG. 19, thebuilding-level objects consist of rectangle areas F206 to F209 andsuppose these areas express buildings. Area F206 is given an ID “2-001”,area F207 is given an ID “2-002”, area F208 is given an ID “2-005” andarea F209 is given an ID “2-004”.

“L=2” shows building-level objects. In the example shown in FIG. 19, thebuilding-level objects consist of rectangle areas F206 to F209 andsuppose these areas express buildings. Area F206 is given an ID “2-001”,area F207 is given an ID “2-002”, area F208 is given an ID “2-003” andarea F209 is given an ID “2-004”.

“L=3” shows objects inside a building. In the example shown in FIG. 19,these objects consist of rectangle areas F210 and F211 and suppose theseareas express the interior of buildings. Area F210 is given an ID“3-001” and area F211 is given an ID “3-002”.

The position granularity calculating portion 9 searches for an area onthe map at the division level L that the focused area informationmatches and if the matched area is found, the position granularitycalculating portion 9 adds the area that matches the area of the focusedarea information to the object path. For example, a case where thefocused area information is the first record (area F102 in FIG. 9) shownin FIG. 7 and “L=0” will be explained. FIG. 20 shows the map data shownin FIG. 9 superimposed on the map shown in FIG. 19 and area F102 in FIG.9 which is the focused area information is area F207 in FIG. 20.

Since “L=0”, the area at this division level is only area F201. AreaF207 does not match area F201, and therefore the position granularitycalculating portion 9 searches for an area at division level L on themap including the focused area information.

If the area is found, the position granularity calculating portion 9stores the object path and if the area is not found, the positiongranularity calculating portion 9 adds, as shown in FIG. 21, field T205that stores the object path and field T206 of the division level towhich the area of the focused area information belongs to the areainformation search result shown in FIG. 7.

In the above-described example, since area F207 is included in areaF201, the position granularity calculating portion 9 stores a set ofareas including the area of the focused area information, that is, theobject path. In the above-described example, since area F207 is includedin area F201, the object path of area F207 becomes “0-001” which is theID of area F201.

In the example of area F207, if “L=0”, area F207 is included in areaF201, if “L=1”, area F207 is included in area F202, if “L=2”, the areamatches area F207, and therefore the object path becomes “0-001, 1-001,2-001” and “0-001, 1-001, 2-001” is stored in field T205. Furthermore,to process this step with “L=2”, “2” is stored in field T206 (see FIG.21).

When the granularity is calculated, the position granularity calculatingportion 9 sends the expanded area information search result, “currentlocation”, “current orientation” and level of details of currentinformation to the position information filtering portion 4 using aresponse signal 114.

Upon receiving this, the position information filtering portion 4carries out area information filtering processing. To carry out thisarea information filtering processing, the position informationfiltering portion 4 requests the field of view determining portion 5 forthe area information filtering processing using a request signal 106first.

In this case, in addition to the expanded area information searchresult, “current location” and “current orientation”, the positioninformation filtering portion 4 sends the level of details of thecurrent information to the field of view determining portion 5 as aparameter.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing a processing procedure of the field ofview determining portion 5 in FIG. 14. In FIG. 22, step S55 is differentcompared to the processing operation in the first embodiment of thepresent invention shown in FIG. 8.

The field of view determining portion 5 checks two items, that is,whether the Cth area information is within the field of view or not andwhether the division level of the Cth area information (field T206) isequal to or below the current level of details or not (step S55 in FIG.22). If both items are satisfied, step S56 is processed and if the Ctharea information is not within the field of view, step S58 is processed.

By the way, other processing operations (steps S51 to S54, S56 to S59)are the same as the processing operations (step S21 to S24, S26 to S29)according to the first embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG.8. Modifying this way makes it possible to display area information thatmatches the conditions of search targets in the area information linkdisplay area 203.

FIG. 23 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a third embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 23, the position related informationpresentation system according to the third embodiment of the presentinvention has the same configuration as that of the second embodiment ofthe present invention shown in FIG. 14 except the addition of useroperation intention determining portion 10 for estimating areainformation requested by the user judging from the user operationscarried out using the display change inputting portion 1, and the samecomponents are assigned the same reference numerals. Operations of thesame components are the same as those of the second embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a display screen according to thethird embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 24 shows an example ofthe display screen displayed by the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2 and this display screen consists of the screenexample shown in FIG. 2 plus an additional area 20203 that allows theuser to set not only the direction but also the speed at which the usermoves forward.

In the display screen shown in FIG. 16, the user explicitly specifiesthe conditions of search targets in the area 20202, but these conditionsneed not be entered and therefore deleted because the user operationintention determining portion 10 automatically estimates thoseconditions. With the display screen shown in FIG. 24, the user can inputthe speed in four stages of “0” to “3” in the area 20203. Hereafter,this value will be referred to as “current moving speed”.

With the addition of this area, the display change inputting portion 1stores the current moving speed selected by the user and also sends, instep S1 in FIG. 3 above, the current moving speed as a parameter to the3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 using a requestsignal 101 to request for the content of the user operation. While thesecond embodiment of the present invention also sends the level ofdetails of the current information as a parameter, the third embodimentof the present invention does not send it. Hereafter, no parameters ofthe level of details of the current information will be sent.

In step S11 in FIG. 5, when the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2 requests the position information searching portion7 to change the area information using a request signal 103, the 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 also sends the currentmoving speed as a parameter.

In step S12 in FIG. 5, the position information searching portion 7 alsosends the current moving speed to the position granularity calculatingportion 9 as a parameter using a response signal 113. In step S49 inFIG. 18, the position granularity calculating portion 9 also sends thecurrent moving speed to the position information filtering portion 4 asa parameter using a response signal 114. Upon reception of this responsesignal, the position information filtering portion 4 performs areainformation filtering processing.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, this processing iscarried out through the processing flow shown in FIG. 22, but in thethird embodiment of the present invention, the user operation intentiondetermining portion 10 estimates which division level of information isrequested by the user judging from the current replay speed first andthen executes the processing flow shown in FIG. 22.

FIG. 25 illustrates a table in the user operation intention determiningportion 10 in FIG. 23. In FIG. 25, this table consists of field T301that indicates the current moving speed and field T302 that indicatesthe division level to be displayed to the area information link displayarea 203 of the display screen shown in FIG. 24.

The intuitive meaning of this table is to enable the system to displayrough information when the user is moving rapidly and detailedinformation when the user is moving slowly.

The position information filtering portion 4 stores, by means of theuser operation intention determining portion 10, value 115 in field T302of the record where the value of the current moving speed matches thevalue in field T301 as the value of the level of details of the currentinformation. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 25, when thespeed in field T301 is “2”, the value of the level of details of thecurrent information in field T302 is “1”.

The position information filtering portion 4 requests the field of viewdetermining portion 5 for area information filtering processing using arequest signal 106. The processing procedure by the field of viewdetermining portion 5 in response to this request is the same as theprocessing operation by the second embodiment of the present inventionshown in FIG. 22.

Modifying the system in this way makes it possible to selectivelydisplay area information that is appropriate to the way the 3D map movesjudging from the way the 3D map moves without the need for the user toparticularly specify some area information search conditions.

FIG. 26 is block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a fourth embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 26, the position related informationpresentation system according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention has the same configuration as that of the position relatedinformation presentation system according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention shown in FIG. 1 except the additions of keywordsearching portion 11 for searching area information by entering keywordsand path searching portion 12 for searching a path from the currentlocation to a place related to a search result, and the same componentsare assigned the same reference numerals. Operations of the samecomponents are the same as those in the first embodiment of the presentinvention.

Unlike the first, second and third embodiments of the present inventionwhereby the user acquires area information while walking around on a 3Dmap, this embodiment presupposes a method of use whereby the usersearches for area information using keywords, and then walks around andmoves to a place related to the search result on the 3D map.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart showing a processing operation according to thefourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 28 shows an example ofan input screen of the keyword searching portion 11 in FIG. 26, FIG. 29shows an example of a search result of the keyword searching portion 11in FIG. 26, FIG. 30 illustrates a display example of a search result ofthe keyword searching portion 11 in FIG. 26, FIG. 31 illustrates asearch result of the keyword searching means in FIG. 26 and FIG. 32 andFIG. 33 illustrate examples of a display screen according to the fourthembodiment of the present invention. With reference to these FIG. 26 toFIG. 33, a processing operation of the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention will be explained.

The user searches information of interest using keywords using thekeyword searching portion 11 (step S61 in FIG. 27). A screen example ofthe keyword searching portion 11 is shown in FIG. 28. In FIG. 28,reference numeral 1101 denotes a keyword input field [in FIG. 28, theuser is trying to search for information on a “bank”] and referencenumeral 1102 denotes a search button.

When the user presses (clicks on) the search button 1102, the keywordsearching portion 11 requests the position information storing portion 8to conduct a search using the search keyword 1101 as a parameter througha request signal 120.

The position information storing portion 8 searches for a recordincluding the search keyword sent as a parameter in field T203 with thetitle shown in FIG. 6 (step S62 in FIG. 27). FIG. 29 shows the result ofthe search with the search keyword “bank” in field T203 of the titleshown in FIG. 6. However, this search method is just an example, and itis also possible to consider the entire page shown by field T202 of theURL shown in FIG. 6 as the search target with the search keyword.

The position information storing portion 8 returns the search resultshown in FIG. 29 to the keyword searching portion 11 using a responsesignal 118. The keyword searching portion 11 displays the search resultof the position information storing portion 8 (step S63 in FIG. 27).FIG. 30 shows an example of the screen that displays this search result.

In FIG. 30, reference numeral 1103 denotes a search result display fieldand reference numeral 1104 denotes a guide button to move to a placerelated to the search result. In FIG. 30, the search result displayfield 1103 shows field T203 of the title of the search result shown inFIG. 7 on the first row and field T202 of the URL on the second row.Furthermore, the keyword searching portion 11 displays a guide button1104 for every search result.

The user presses (clicks on) the guide button 1104 of the search resultfrom among the search results for which the user wants a guide in the 3Dmap (step S64 in FIG. 27). For simplification of explanations, thisembodiment supposes that the user presses the guide button 1104, but theuser need not always press the guide button 1104. For example, the usercan return to step S61 above and do a search over again or finish thekeyword search.

The keyword searching portion 11 sends the search result 119 of thesearch for which the guide button 1104 is pressed (see FIG. 31) to the3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2. The 3Dmap/information superimposed displaying portion 2 stores the searchresult 119 sent from the keyword searching portion 11 as a guide targetfor the user (hereinafter this data will be used as a guide target)(step S65 in FIG. 27).

The user walks around on the 3D map using the same method as those inthe above-described first, second and third embodiments of the presentinvention (step S66 in FIG. 27). The 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2 displays the 3D map according to the processingflow shown in FIG. 3 and carries out processing to show a guide everytime this processing flow ends.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 sends thecurrent location and guide target location T204 shown in FIG. 31 to thefield of view determining portion 5 using a request signal 116 so thatthe field of view determining portion 5 determines whether the guidetarget is within the field of view or not.

The field of view determining portion 5 determines whether the guidetarget is within the field of view or not using the method explained inthe first embodiment of the present invention and sends the result tothe 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 using aresponse signal 117.

If this reply is TRUE (the guide target is within the field of view)(step S67 in FIG. 27), which means that the user has reached the targetpoint, the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 showsthat the target point is within the field of view (step S70 in FIG. 27)(see FIG. 33).

On the other hand, if this reply is FALSE (the guide target is notwithin the field of view) (step S67 in FIG. 27), which means that theuser has not reached the target point, the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying portion 2 sends the current location and guidetarget location T204 shown in FIG. 31 to the path searching portion 12using a request signal 121 to find the direction in which the usershould move forward to reach the guide target location from the currentlocation (step S68 in FIG. 27).

The path searching portion 12 is the means for calculating the shortestpath when given two points and any well-known means can be used andmounted as the path searching portion 12. The path searching portion 12in this embodiment calculates the path between the two points, thecurrent location and guide target location T204 and sends one of “right”“left”, “forward” and “back” as the direction in which the user shouldmove from the current location as a reply to the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying portion 2 using a response signal 122.

The 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 displays thepath which the user should currently follow (step S69 in FIG. 27) (seeFIG. 32). In FIG. 32, an arrow 20103 in the center of the screenindicates the direction that the user should follow and in this case, itmeans that the user should goes rightward to reach the guide target.However, the user need not always move in the direction indicated by thearrow 20103, but the user can move in any direction.

Since the system of this embodiment always calculates the path from thecurrent location to the guide target, the user can deviate from theshortest path. In FIG. 33, reference numeral 20104 denotes an iconindicating the target point and reference numeral 20105 denotes titleT203 of the target point shown in FIG. 31.

FIG. 34 illustrates processing of calculating the shortest pathaccording to the fourth embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 35illustrates a configuration example of a table that stores startingnodes and arriving nodes and distances thereof shown in FIG. 34, andFIG. 36, FIG. 37 and FIG. 39 illustrate specific examples of calculatingthe shortest path according to the fourth embodiment of the presentinvention and FIG. 38 illustrates a display screen of the processingresult in FIG. 37.

In FIG. 34, nodes No. 1 to No. 9 each indicate certain locations. Forsimplification of explanations, suppose the user is located at note No.1 and node No. 9 is a guide target. In FIG. 34, the orientation of theuser is indicated with “→” inside node No. 1 and a line between nodes(hereinafter referred to as “arc”) means that the user can move betweenthe nodes and the distance between the nodes as a value is set on eacharc. For example, the user can move forward from node No. 1 to node No.2 or to node No. 4. The distance from node No. 1 to node No. 2 is “2”and the distance from node No. 1 to node No. 4 is “1”.

FIG. 35 illustrates a configuration of a table that stores arelationship between the above-described arc and distance. In FIG. 35,field T401 stores the names of starting nodes of arcs, field T402 storesthe names of arriving nodes of arcs and field T403 stores the distancesbetween the starting nodes and arriving nodes.

The path searching portion 12 calculates the shortest path from thetable shown in FIG. 35, current location and guide target. In theexample shown in FIG. 34, the route from node No. 1→node No. 4→node No.7→node No. 8→node No. 9 is the shortest path having distance “4”. Theshortest route may be calculated, for example, by enumerating all routeswithout passing through the same arc twice, calculating distances of therespective routes and selecting the shortest one.

However, the above-described calculation method is not efficient, and itis possible to use an efficient algorithm in the field of graph theory,for example. As this kind of algorithm, a Dijkstra method is generallyused. This Dijkstra method is described in detail in “Bit separatevolume, Computer Science and Geographic Information Processing” (underthe editorship of Masao Iri, edited by Takeshi Koshizuka, KyoritsuPublishing, pp. 151–155).

FIG. 36 illustrates the above-described shortest route of node No.1→node No. 4→node No. 7→node No. 8→node No. 9. In this case, in orderfor the user to reach node No. 9 which is the guide target through theshortest route, the user needs to turn to the right at node No. 1. Thus,the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 displays arightward arrow as the arrow 20103 in the center of the display screenshown in FIG. 32.

Then, if the user moves straight forward without following theabove-described arrow 20103, that is, if the user moves from node No. 1to node No. 2, the path searching portion 12 updates the currentlocation to node No.2, and recalculates the shortest route to node No. 9which is the guide target. The shortest route in this case becomes nodeNo. 2→node No. 3→node No. 6→node No. 9 as shown in FIG. 37.

Therefore, in order for the user to reach node No. 9 which is the guidetarget through the shortest route, the user needs to go straight forwardat node No.2. Thus, the 3D map/information superimposed displayingportion 2 displays an upward (straightforward) arrow as the arrow 20106in the center of the display screen shown in FIG. 38.

Furthermore, when the user turns to the right without following theabove-described arrow 20106, that is, if the user moves from node No. 2to node No. 5, the path searching portion 12 updates the currentlocation to node No. 5, and recalculates the shortest route to node No.9 which is the guide target. The shortest route in this case becomes aroute of node No. 5→node No. 6→node No. 9 and a route of node No. 5→nodeNo. 8→node No. 9 as shown in FIG. 39.

Thus, the 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion 2 displaystwo arrows; an upward (straightforward) arrow and a leftward arrow. Asdescribed above, the user need not always follow the guided routebecause the shortest route from the current location of the user to theguide target is always calculated.

Thus, in the case where there is explicitly area information the userwants to search for, the user searches for the area information usingthe keyword searching portion 11 first and the 3D map/informationsuperimposed displaying portion 2 can guide the user to a place relatedto the search result. Furthermore, this route guide need not always bemoved according to the guide, and therefore the user can receive a guidewith a high degree of freedom.

FIG. 40 is block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a fifth embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 40, the position related informationpresentation system according to the fifth embodiment of the presentinvention is constructed of an input apparatus 21, a data processingapparatus 22, a storage apparatus 23, a recording medium 24 and anoutput apparatus 25.

The recording medium 24 records a program to implement theabove-described position related information presentation system. As therecording medium 24, a magnetic disk, semiconductor memory, CD-ROM orother recording medium can be used.

The program for implementing the above-described position relatedinformation presentation system which is loaded from the recordingmedium 24 to the data processing apparatus 22 controls the operation ofthe data processing apparatus 22, secures the areas for the 3D mapstoring portion 3, map database 6 and position information storingportion 8 in the storage apparatus 23, generates the display changeinputting portion 1, 3D map/information superimposed displaying portion2, position information filtering portion 4, field of view determiningportion 5 and position information searching portion 7 according to thefirst to fourth embodiments of the present invention on the dataprocessing apparatus 22, and controls their respective operations. Thedata processing apparatus 22 executes the same processing as theprocessing by the position related information presentation systemaccording to the first to fourth embodiments of the present inventionunder the control of the program for implementing the position relatedinformation presentation system.

FIG. 41 is block diagram showing a configuration of a position relatedinformation presentation system according to a sixth embodiment of thepresent invention. In FIG. 41, the position related informationpresentation system according to the sixth embodiment of the presentinvention is constructed of a portable terminal 30 comprising displaychange inputting portion 1, 3D map/information superimposed displayingportion 2, position information filtering portion 4, field of viewdetermining portion 5, position information searching portion 7 andradio communication section 31, and 3D map storing portion 3, a mapdatabase 6 and position information storing portion 8.

This embodiment operates in the same way as for the first embodiment ofthe present invention except in that the 3D map/information superimposeddisplaying portion 2, the position information filtering portion 4, thefield of view determining portion 5 and the position informationsearching portion 7 in the above-described portable terminal 30 acquiredata from the 3D map storing portion 3, the map database 6 and theposition information storing portion 8 through the radio communicationsection 31, respectively. In this case, the user can receive a guidewith a high degree of freedom by simply inputting the current locationand a guide target to the portable terminal 30.

If the above-described portable terminal 30 incorporates any one ofposition granularity calculating portion 9, user operation intentiondetermining portion 10, keyword detecting portion 11 or path searchingportion 12, this embodiment can also operate in the same way as thesecond to fourth embodiments of the present invention.

Thus, by providing the field of view determining portion 5 thatdetermines the field of view of the user on the 3D map and the positioninformation filtering portion 4 that extracts area information actuallyvisible to the user from the area information search result based onthis determination result, it is possible to solve the conventionalproblem that when the user stands in that place in the real world, eveninformation that the user actually cannot see due to the shadows ofbuildings, etc. is searched.

Moreover, by providing the position granularity calculating portion 9that calculates the granularity of the area indicating the divisionlevel on the map of the area covered by the area information searchedand the user operation intention determining portion 10 that determineswhether the user needs rough information or detailed information judgingfrom the user's operation on the 3D map, it is possible to solve theconventional problem that it is unable to select information to bepresented according to the way the user walks around on the map.

Furthermore, this embodiment not only allows the user to search forperipheral information while walking around on the 3D map, but alsoincludes the keyword searching portion 11 and path searching portion 12in its configuration allowing the user to search information usingkeywords beforehand and navigate to a place related to the informationon the 3D map, and recalculating the path every time the user locationchanges thus eliminating the need for the user to always follow theguide. Thus, the user can receive a guide with a high degree of freedom.

Thus, this embodiment allows the user to experience as if the user hadactually walked around and collected information about the area and canprovide information according to the way the user walks around on the 3Dmap and the effective geographical range covered by each piece ofinformation.

As described above, the position related information presentation systemaccording to the present invention provides a position relatedinformation presentation system that displays area information relatedto a position specified by position information on a three-dimensionalmap using a computer system, capable of detecting a change of state ofthe three-dimensional map, searching for area information at the currentlocation from a database judging from the current state of the map,extracting information of buildings in the field of view of the operatorfrom the search result and displaying this extraction result, therebyproviding an effect that the user can experience as if the user hadactually walked around and collected information about the area.

Furthermore, in addition to the above-described processing, the positionrelated information presentation system according to the presentinvention searches position-related information from a database usingkeywords, calculates the shortest path on the map from the currentposition to the place related to the search result and displays a routeguide to the place related to the search result based on thiscalculation result, thus producing an effect of providing informationaccording to the way the user walks around on the three-dimensional mapand the effective geographical range covered by each piece ofinformation.

1. A position related information presentation system, comprising: fieldof view determining means for detecting, with respect to a display ofarea information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object of the map on anotherobject of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on a movingdirection from a current display position; and position informationfiltering means for searching for said related area information fromsaid area information related to a new display position searched inresponse to a display change instruction using said information onsuperimposing of one object on another object.
 2. The position relatedinformation presentation system according to claim 1, wherein said fieldof view determining means detects information on superimposing of oneobject on another object using data of a two-dimensional map.
 3. Theposition related information presentation system according to claim 1,further comprising superimposed displaying means for displaying saidarea information related to the position expressed by the data of saidthree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap.
 4. The position related information presentation system accordingto claim 3, further comprising map storing means for storing the data ofsaid three-dimensional map, wherein said superimposed displaying meansdisplays said area information superimposed on the data of thethree-dimensional map read from said map storing means.
 5. The positionrelated information presentation system according to claim 3, furthercomprising display change inputting means for inputting a movementinstruction with respect to the display of said superimposed displayingmeans, wherein the current position in the display of said superimposeddisplaying means is moved forward or backward or the moving direction ischanged according to said movement instruction.
 6. The position relatedinformation presentation system according to claim 1, wherein saidsuperimposed displaying means is constructed so as to display the objectclosest to the current position from said superimposing of one object onanother object.
 7. The position related information presentation systemaccording to claim 1, further comprising position information searchingmeans for searching for said area information related to a new displayposition in response to a display change instruction.
 8. The positionrelated information presentation system according to claim 1, furthercomprising position information storing means for storing areainformation related to said position so that said position informationstoring means constructs an information database of information on anobject that exists at said position.
 9. The position related informationpresentation system according to claim 8, wherein said positioninformation storing means includes address information of homepages onthe Internet including at least information of said object in saiddatabase.
 10. A position related information presentation system,comprising: field of view determining means for detecting, with respectto a display of area information related to a position indicated by dataof a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data of saidthree-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object of themap on another object of the map in a predetermined angle range centeredon a moving direction from a current display position; positiongranularity calculating means for calculating granularity of an areaindicating a division level on the map of the area covered by said areainformation; and position information filtering means for searching forsaid related area information from said area information using a levelof details of information base on the level of granularity of requiredarea information, the granularity of said area, and said information onsuperimposing of one object on another object.
 11. A position relatedinformation presentation system, comprising: field of view determiningmeans for detecting, with respect to a display of area informationrelated to a position indicated by data of a three-dimensional mapsuperimposed on the data of said three-dimensional map, information onsuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position; position granularity calculating means for calculatinggranularity of an area indicating a division level on the map of thearea covered by said area information; operation intention determiningmeans for estimating conditions of required area information based on amovement instruction; and position information filtering means forsearching for said related area information from said area informationusing said condition estimated by said operation intention determiningmeans, the granularity of said area, and said information onsuperimposing of one object on another object.
 12. A portable terminalapparatus of a position related information presentation system,comprising: superimposed displaying means for displaying areainformation related to a position expressed with data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap; field of view determining means for detecting information onsuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position with respect to the display of said superimposeddisplaying means; and position information filtering means for searchingfor said related area information from said area information related toa new display position searched in response to a display changeinstruction using the information on said superimposing of one object onanother object.
 13. A position related information presentation method,comprising the steps of: detecting, with respect to a display of areainformation related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object of the map on anotherobject of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on a movingdirection from a current display position; and searching for saidrelated area information from said area information related to a newdisplay position searched in response to a display change instructionusing said information on superimposing of one object on another object.14. A position related information presentation method, comprising thesteps of: detecting, with respect to a display of area informationrelated to a position indicated by data of a three-dimensional mapsuperimposed on the data of said three-dimensional map, information onsuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position; and calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by said area information;and searching for said related area information from said areainformation using a level of details of information based on the levelof granularity of required area information, the granularity of saidarea, and said information on superimposing of one object on anotherobject.
 15. A position related information presentation method,comprising the steps of: detecting, with respect to a display of areainformation related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object of the map on anotherobject of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on a movingdirection from a current display position; calculating granularity of anarea indicating a division level on the map of the area covered by saidarea information; estimating conditions of required area informationbased on a movement instruction; and searching for said related areainformation from said area information using said estimated condition,the granularity of said area, and said information on superimposing ofone object on another object.
 16. A position related informationpresentation method, comprising the steps of: displaying areainformation related to a position expressed with data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap; detecting information on the superimposing of one object of the mapon another object of the map in a predetermined angle range centered ona moving direction from a current display position with respect to thedisplay; and searching for said related area information from said areainformation related to a new display position searched in response to adisplay change instruction using said information on the superimposingof one object on another object.
 17. A recording medium that records aposition related information presentation control program for presentingposition related information rendering a computer to: detect, withrespect to a display of area information related to a position indicatedby data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the data of saidthree-dimensional map, information on superimposing of one object of themap on another object of the map in a predetermined angle range centeredon a moving direction from a current display position; and search forsaid related area information from said area information related to anew display position searched in response to a display changeinstruction using said information on superimposing of one object uponanother object.
 18. A recording medium that records a position relatedinformation presentation control program for presenting position relatedinformation rendering a computer to: detect, with respect to a displayof area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object of the map on anotherobject of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on a movingdirection from a current display position; calculate granularity of anarea indicating a division level on the map of the area covered by saidarea information; and search for said related area information from saidarea information using a level of details of information based on thelevel of granularity of required area information, the granularity ofsaid area, and said information on superimposing of one object onanother object.
 19. A recording medium that records a position relatedinformation presentation control program for presenting position relatedinformation rendering a computer to: detect, with respect to a displayof area information related to a position indicated by data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap, information on superimposing of one object of the map on anotherobject of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on a movingdirection from a current display position; calculate granularity of anarea indicating a division level on the map of the area covered by saidarea information; estimate conditions of said required area informationbased on a movement instruction; and search for said related areainformation from said area information using said estimated condition,the granularity of said area, and said information on superimposing ofone object on another object.
 20. A recording medium that records aposition related information presentation control program for presentingposition related information rendering a portable terminal apparatus to:display area information related to a position expressed with data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap; detect information on superimposing of one object of the map onanother object of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on amoving direction from a current display position with respect to thedisplay; and search for said related area information from said areainformation related to a new display position searched in response to adisplay change instruction using said information on the superimposingof one object on another object.
 21. A portable terminal apparatus of aposition related information presentation system, comprising:superimposed displaying means for displaying area information related toa position expressed with data of a three-dimensional map superimposedon the data of said three-dimensional map; field of view determiningmeans for detecting information on superimposing of one object of themap on another object of the map in a predetermined angle range centeredon a moving direction from a current display position with respect tothe display of said superimposed displaying means; position granularitycalculating means for calculating granularity of an area indicating adivision level on the map of the area covered by said area information;and position information filtering means for searching for said relatedarea information from said area information using a level of details ofinformation based on the degree of granularity of required areainformation, the granularity of said area, and said information onsuperimposing of one object on another object.
 22. A portable terminalapparatus of a position related information presentation system,comprising: superimposed displaying means for displaying areainformation related to a position expressed with data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap; field of view determining means for detecting information onsuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position with respect to the display of said superimposeddisplaying means; position granularity calculating means for calculatinggranularity of an area indicating a division level on the map of thearea covered by said area information; operation intention determiningmeans for estimating conditions of required area information based on amovement instruction; and position information filtering means forsearching for said related area information from said area informationusing said condition estimated by said operation intention determiningmeans, the granularity of said area, and said information onsuperimposing of one object on another object.
 23. A position relatedinformation presentation method including a portable terminal apparatus,comprising the steps of: displaying area information related to aposition expressed with data of a three-dimensional map superimposed onthe data of said three-dimensional map; detecting information on thesuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position with respect to the display; calculating granularity ofan area indicating a division level on the map of the area covered bysaid area information; and searching said related area information fromsaid area information using a level of details of information based onthe degree of granularity of said required area information, thegranularity of said area, and information on the superimposing of oneobject on another object.
 24. A position related informationpresentation method including a portable terminal apparatus, comprisingthe steps of: displaying area information related to a positionexpressed with data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the dataof said three-dimensional map; detecting information on thesuperimposing of one object of the map on another object of the map in apredetermined angle range centered on a moving direction from a currentdisplay position with respect to the display; calculating granularity ofan area indicating a division level on the map of the area covered bysaid area information; estimating a condition of required areainformation based on a movement instruction; and searching said relatedarea information from said area information using said estimatedcondition, the granularity of said area, and information on thesuperimposing of one object on another object.
 25. A recording mediumthat records a position related information presentation control programfor presenting position related information, rendering a portableterminal apparatus to: display area information related to a positionexpressed with data of a three-dimensional map superimposed on the dataof said three-dimensional map; detect information on superimposing ofone object of the map on another object of the map in a predeterminedangle range centered on a moving direction from a current displayposition with respect to the display; calculate granularity of an areaindicating a division level on the map of the area covered by said areainformation; and search for said related area information from said areainformation using a level of details of information based on the degreeof granularity of said required area information, the granularity ofsaid area and said information on superimposing of one object on anotherobject.
 26. A recording medium that records a position relatedinformation presentation control program for presenting position relatedinformation, rendering a portable terminal apparatus to: display areainformation related to a position expressed with data of athree-dimensional map superimposed on the data of said three-dimensionalmap; detect information on superimposing of one object of the map onanother object of the map in a predetermined angle range centered on amoving direction from a current display position with respect to thedisplay; and calculate granularity of an area indicating a divisionlevel on the map of the area covered by said area information; estimatethe condition of required area information based on a movementinstruction; and search for said related area information from said areainformation using said estimated condition, the granularity of saidarea, and said information on superimposing of one object on anotherobject.